First released in 1994, Colonization remains something of a cult favourite amongst PC gamers, never reaching the heights of popularity or critical acclaim its “father” Civilization or its science fiction sibling Alpha Centauri managed.

Still, it’s my favourite game of the three.

Few games that are set in a previous time period are rarely, genuinely historical. They may include muskets or swords, gladiators or samurai, but those are usually simple window-dressing for an action game. They rarely explore the themes of the time, the politics, the things that drove men (and women) to do what they did and which helped shape the world we live in today.

Sid Meier’s Colonization did do this, and it did it in spades.

Landing off the coast of America in 1492, the player could choose to represent either Britain, Spain, France or The Netherlands, exploring the New World, establishing colonies, managing trade routes and dealing with the local Indian populations. Eventually, affairs would build towards an endgame where you would fight a war of independence against your chosen European power.

So far, so Civilization (well, except for the revolution part), but where Firaxis’ flagship series paints history in only the broadest of brushstrokes, Colonization has a laser-sharp focus that lets it explore the history of a very specific point in time.

It does this by stripping away forced narrative, and narrowing down the time period represented. Colonization never seeks to ram down your throat the common story-telling thread that the British are en evil imperial force, the Americans a hardy band of freedom-loving individualists fighting for their rights. That one side were the bad guys, the other, the good guys. Which is great, because history is rarely so simple.

Instead, it places you at the centre of a number of forces pulling at your colonies, and your attentions. Your home monarch may be a bastard who rises taxes in accordance with the level of rebel sentiment in your settlements, but he is also “home”, the source of all your money and settlers throughout the bulk of the game. The man who gave you your start in the game. Because of this, you develop a strange sense of affinity towards your European masters, despite their frequent (and quite literal) requests to kiss the ring.

Colonization is also able to let you manage your cities right down to assigning which individual person will be a lumberjack and who will be a teacher, who you can retrain to man a stockade with a musket and who is going to catch all the fish. By focusing solely on a select time and place in history, it also lets things like trade, exploration and settlement become richer, more detailed affairs. You quickly develop a love of your people on an individual level, which makes their hardship at the hands of a European monarch tough to bear.

Thus when, almost inevitably (though it’s never forced upon the player), war comes and your colonies attempt to rebel and establish the United States of America, things aren’t as black and white as you’d expect. Cut off from money and men, your colonies are suddenly exposed, weak and short of military might. And rather than unanimously rising up to meet the redcoats (or othercoats if you’re not playing as the British) at Bunker Hill, you find that many amongst your people remain loyal to the Crown, and even take up arms against you.

It’s a mess. A chaotic swirl of mixed emotions, conflicting agendas, propaganda and subversion. And it rarely goes smoothly. Just like the actual American war of independence!

As I’ve argued before, this is exactly what a good historical game should do. Rather than try and recreate events as a story, told from a single perspective, Colonization gives you all the themes, tools and the diplomatic climate of the time and drops you into it so you can experience them all for yourself. Make your own judgements on what was good and bad, right and wrong. Then rewrite it again and again as you see fit.

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If you’ve got the day off and are looking to get in touch with the origins of the American nation, the original PC version is available for spare change over on Good Old Games and Steam. Firaxis released a a remake of the game a few years back, built over the top of Civilization IV, but it’s a cold and sterile affair; you’re far better off getting the first game (which is the one pictured throughout this post), especially since its art style holds up so well even today.